The Island A Decent Sc-Fi Film But Overlong

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2009)

The Island is a decent sci-film but overlong from director Michael Bay who seems to have a hate/love relationship with critics and audiences. I think he's a talented filmmaker some of his past films may not have been the greatest but he does show a lot skill in all of them none the less including this one. The cast for the most part are admirable in their roles including Ewan McGregor, Scarlet Johannson, Dijmin Honsou, and Sean Bean. McGregor and Johannson are effective as the leads bringing credibility to the characters and their situation. Honsou and Bean make for solid bad guys. They may lack development and screen time but both of them make the best of their roles as the villains. Steve Buscemi shows up for a brief role and does add some comic relief to the film but his part is cut rather short. The same can go for Michael Clarke Duncan makes a cameo appearance and then disappears for the rest of the film but he still does an okay job with his small part. The rest of the cast are good in their limited screen time but aren't really developed. The action sequences are well executed and intense most of them happening toward the second half but some aren't very realistic while others are missing that WOW factor that you get occasionally when watching these kind of films. Besides the cool special effects the movie does have plenty of humor that balances well between the action, drama, and suspense. The film was a little slow especially in the beginning before the action really starts to kick in and it felt a bit overlong but the rest of the movie made up for it's few flaws. Despite it's few problems The Island is still an entertaining sci-fi adventure that may be a bit long but it keeps your attention because of the intense action, suspense, and equally impressive performances by most of the cast who make the movie worth watching at least once.